It’s no secret the world’s recent pandemic forced an explosion of remote work here in the United States and across the globe. While the first few months were challenging to say the least, overall, the transition to remote work was a smashing success. In fact, the pivot to remote work was so successful, many companies are reporting that working from home is a practice they intend to keep, at least for the foreseeable future.

Statistics Tell the Story

Gartner, the world-renowned tech research firm, recently conducted a survey in which 82% of organizations surveyed say they plan to continue with at least some staff working remotely from home, even after the pandemic is gone. Almost half of those surveyed said they planned to make the practice of remote work permanent within their organization.

Again, almost half of those surveyed are also considering some type of work option such as flex-days within a given week. Almost the same percentage are considering at least some amount of flexible work hours during the work week. 

Why the Change?

Some may wonder why remote work didn’t become immensely popular a mere 10 years ago. One of the top reasons why remote work was able to take off so rapidly in 2020 than in the past is largely due to the fairly recent increase in internet speeds, along with the advancement of technologies in areas such as video conferencing, remote employee monitoring, etc. It may be difficult to remember, but even 10 years ago the use of smartphones, tablets, and WiFi capable laptops were not as ubiquitous as they are now, and many areas across the United States did not necessarily have reliable, high speed internet access. Today, almost all areas except for fairly remote locations, allow on-the-go work options by way of smartphones, tablets, and portable laptops.

The Benefits

In general, most employees prefer the nonexistent commute times of working from home, as well as other benefits such as being at home when their children return from school, and in many cases, the ability to avoid distractions from office chatter, people walking by their desk, etc. 

Many managers have discovered that supervising a remote workforce isn’t much different from managing a workforce that may have once been spread throughout several floors in a large skyscraper. Employers have discovered that by using tools such as video-conferencing, remote employee monitoring, and shared collaboration options, they are actually more than able to keep track of the progress on group projects, whether their employees are actually working, and so forth. 

The Challenges

Those companies who decide to pare down their office space are likely to see significant improvements in their operational expenses, however, the massive reduction in office space once used by these companies has had devastating effects on cities that relied on tax revenues from these companies. Also particularly hard hit, are small businesses such as restaurants, street vendors, and other shops that relied on traffic from downtown office workers to remain in business.

The Future

The fact that companies will be able to save a significant amount in capital expenditures such as office space, along with all the expenses associated with maintaining those spaces, means the future looks very promising for remote work. In addition, the discovery that employees are just as if not more productive when working remotely, tells employers that working from home is a solid option.

While the office landscape may have changed, our premiere CloudStations Remote Desktop as a Service (RdaaS) and other core services, along with our  White-Glove IT approach to service remains the same. We stand ready to back our clients 24/7/365, with outstanding service and support, whether you work remotely or in-office.